Many stationary and portable current computing devices offer considerable performance advantages and features over similar prior devices. One reason for this is that constant commercial pressure for competitive advantage has tended to improve performance and add or enhance features in computing devices with passing time. Unfortunately, it is often the case that each improvement in performance or features causes an increase in power consumption and associated generation of heat.
Even with current power savings technologies, at times many of these current computing devices consume undesirable amounts of electrical power and/or generate undesirable quantities of waste heat. One reason this is undesirable is because use of large amounts of electrical power can be expensive, for example, in the case of a large server farm. These costs are often compounded by the need to employ air conditioning to remove waste heat, thereby further increasing costs to maintain these computing devices. Another reason this is undesirable it that without sufficient cooling, excessive heat can damage or decrease the lifetime of current computing devices.
Cumulative societal use of electricity can add considerable strain on electrical power grids, especially on hot days when many businesses and residences are already using copious quantities of electrical power. In these situations, sometimes electrical utilities contact customers asking them to reduce their power consumption to avert a brown out, which would be to the detriment of all. It is desirable to be able to reduce use of electrical power by computing devices in this and numerous other situations.
Some current computer processors have the ability to lower central processor unit (CPU) clock speed and voltage, and thus power consumption. Information Technology (IT) administrators may attempt to decrease power consumption in large installations by configuring computer processors offline for the desired power state. Unfortunately, offline configuration takes time and attention from the IT administrator and requires the server to be taken out of use temporarily. Furthermore, reducing processor clock speed may result in insufficient power savings and heat reduction. It is desirable to at least partially address some of these limitations to reduce power consumption and the generation of undesirable heat in current computing devices.